This story will be updated.
A national nonprofit closed on its deal to buy Maine’s largest newspaper company on Monday, four months after owner Reade Brower said he wanted to sell the Portland Press Herald and most of his other newspapers.
The National Trust for Local News purchased five dailies, 17 weeklies, specialty publications and the print operations of Masthead Maine, leaving Brower with six weeklies, mostly along Maine’s northern coast. The newspapers will operate with their current names under the new umbrella “Maine Trust for Local News,” which will replace the Masthead Media brand, according to a memo sent to employees on Tuesday and obtained by the Bangor Daily News.
The insertion of a nonprofit owner into Maine’s media landscape follows other hybrid models in the U.S. aimed at keeping ailing newspapers viable. The Bangor Daily News is the only independently owned daily newspaper left in Maine.
The sale price was not revealed. The memo said philanthropic support by the national trust and Maine funders made the acquisition possible, but it did not name the funders. General supporters of the national trust are listed on its website and include donors that support independent local journalism such as the Knight Foundation, MacArthur Foundation and Google News Initiative.
The Maine Trust for Local News is registered as a Maine-based L3C company that is a wholly owned subsidiary of the national trust. The L3C designation means that the Maine Trust for Local News was organized as a “low profit liability” company. It has a mission to support educational or charitable purposes similar to a public benefit corporation.
The newspapers will operate as a self-sustaining business with revenue goals for circulation, advertising, commercial printing, and other earned revenue, national trust CEO Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro told the Bangor Daily News previously. The newspapers will also be eligible for philanthropic support because they are owned by the nonprofit.
The national trust also bought 24 suburban newspapers in 2021 that it is operating with The Colorado Sun under the title of the Colorado News Conservancy. The newspaper and conservancy are for-profit public benefit corporations. The following year the trust bought the Denton Record-Chronicle in Texas, which became a non-profit entity and is now part of KERA, a North Texas public media station.
Details of the new management structure at the Masthead Maine newspapers were sparse. There will be a board of directors including members from the national trust, Masthead Media and some community members, similar to the board composition at The Colorado Sun. Current Masthead management will remain, including CEO and Publisher Lisa DeSisto. The memo said editorial decisions around news and content will remain on the local level.
Brower bought MaineToday Media, the parent company of The Press Herald, The Kennebec Journal and The Morning Sentinel, in 2015. He bought more newspapers over the next several years. He told the Bangor Daily News previously that one of his new focuses will be his nonprofit that helps people help each other.
